Carrier for sports balls

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, a structure for storing a plurality of sport balls comprises top and bottom portions connected to a plurality of elongated mesh panels and a plurality of stretchable material panels attached in an alternating manner forming a generally elongated structure, a closure component creating a closable opening, and a rigid center tubular component including a plurality of sockets, wherein each socket is configured to hold a sport ball.

FIELD

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the field of sport ballcarriers. More specifically, one embodiment of the disclosure relates toa structure for the transport and storage of a plurality of sport ballswherein the sport balls are contained within the smallest possiblespace.

GENERAL BACKROUND

While attending sporting events, whether a single, a tournament or ateam practice, often times a plurality of sport balls are required. Forexample, a basketball team may require 10-20 basketballs at a practice.Currently, carriers for sport balls may include a large bag with asingle interior opening in which sport balls are stored. Alternatively,a rack, with or without a covering, may be used to store or transportsport balls.

While current carriers for sport balls may allow for the transportand/or storage of sport balls, they fail to provide a carrier that fullyencloses a plurality of sport balls and includes a plurality ofcomponents, each designed to hold an individual sport ball whileutilizing the smallest possible space.

In addition, constructing the carrier to utilize the smallest possiblespace has the advantages of an ease of storage and transport. Currentcarriers fail to include a rigid structure that adds stability whiletransporting the carrier while also providing a covering that compressesthe enclosed sport balls. It would be advantageous for a carrier toprovide a rigid structure to maintain stability, individual componentsto hold each of a plurality of sport balls and a tight-fittingstretchable covering to pull the sport balls toward the center of thecarrier. Such a carrier would utilize the smallest space possible whilepreventing dislodgment during transport or storage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and notby way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, inwhich like references indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary illustration of a carrier 10 for sport balls.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary illustration of the carrier 10 with a zippercomponent in an open state.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary illustration of the center console 20.

FIG. 4 is a magnified view of an exemplary portion of the center console20.

FIG. 5 is a magnified view of a second exemplary portion of the centerconsole 20.

FIG. 6 is magnified view of an exemplary portion of a second centerconsole 60.

FIG. 7 is a second magnified view of an exemplary portion of the centerconsole 60.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the disclosure relate to a carrier for sportballs that provides for an efficient use of space while ensuring thesport balls are not dislodged while transporting or storing the carrier.Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary illustration of a carrier for sportballs is shown. The carrier for sport balls 10 (carrier 10) includes anouter covering that may fully enclose the sport balls placed within thecarrier 10. The outer covering of the carrier 10 includes a plurality ofmesh panels 11 (as drawn in FIG. 1, the carrier 10 includes four meshpanels, three of which are illustrated: mesh panels 11A-11C), a topportion 13, a bottom portion (not shown) and a plurality of materialpanels 12 (as drawn in FIG. 1, the carrier 10 includes four materialpanels, two of which are illustrated: material panels 12A-12B). Thematerial comprising the top portion 13 and bottom portion may be, forexample, diamond composite nylon ripstop fabric. Examples of thematerial comprising the material panels include, but are not limited orrestricted to, spandex or other stretchable fabrics. The mesh panels 11and the material panels 12 extend outwardly when at least one sport ballis placed with the carrier 10. As the material panels 12 come in contactwith the sport balls, the stretchable material fabric pulls the sportballs toward the center of the carrier 10.

In addition, the carrier 10 includes at least one closure component.Examples of closure components include, but are not limited orrestricted to, a zipper component, a series of buttons or a series ofsnaps. Throughout the specification, a zipper component will be used asan example of a closure component. The embodiment illustrated by FIG. 1includes a zipper component that runs the length of the carrier 10 suchthat when the zipper component is opened, the outer covering, includingthe mesh panels 11 and material panels 12, peels away from the enclosedsport balls. The zipper component includes a zipper 17 and two zipperpulls 18. Alternative embodiments may include a plurality of zippercomponents. For example, the carrier 10 may include four zippercomponents such that each zipper extends from the center of the topportion 13 to an opposing corner of the bottom portion.

The carrier 10 may also include attachment components 14 for attachingdetachable carrying straps 15 to the carrier 10. The carrier 10 of FIG.1 is illustrated as including four attachment components 14A-14D thatattach carrying straps 15A-15B to the carrier 10. In one embodiment, theattachment components 14 may be G-hooks. Furthermore, the carrier 10 mayinclude a handle 16. The carrying straps 15 and the handle 16 eachindependently provide ways for the carrier 10 to be easily transported.

In yet another embodiment, the carrier 10 may include a pull-handle anda set of drop-down wheels (not shown). For example, the top portion 13may include a flap through which a pull-handle may extend outward. Inaddition, the bottom portion may include at least one flap through whicha set of wheels may drop-down from the carrier 10. The set of wheels mayinclude one or more wheels. For example, a set of wheels may include twowheels with a first wheel dropping down on a first side of the bottomportion and a second wheel dropping down on an adjacent side of thebottom portion of the carrier 10. This configuration may enable one totilt the bag thereby engaging the wheels with the ground. Alternatively,a set of wheels may include four wheels wherein each corner of thebottom portion of the carrier 10 includes one drop-down wheel. When thedrop-down wheels are not desired, they may fold up into the carrier 10.

Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary illustration of the carrier 10 with azipper component in an open state is shown. Under the covering comprisedof a plurality of mesh panels 11 and material panels 12, the carrier 10includes a center console 20 for securing the sport balls during storageand transport. In one embodiment, as the zipper component of thecovering is opened and the covering peels away from the sport balls andremains attached to the center console. In such an embodiment, thecenter console 20 may be attached to the bottom portion of the carrier10. In a second embodiment, the center console 20 may be removedentirely from the covering of the carrier 10.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the carrying straps 15 aredetached from the carrier 10. In one embodiment, the carrying straps 15may be placed in a storage component within the center tubing component21.

The center 20 console includes a center tubing component 21 and aplurality of sockets for securing the sport balls. The center tubingcomponent 21 may be hollow to give the carrier 10 the least amount ofweight while providing the carrier 10 with a rigid structure for supportand stability. In addition, as mentioned above, the center tubingcomponent 21 may include a storage component for the detachable carryingstraps 15. The plurality of sockets, for example, sockets 22A-22D shownin FIG. 2, extend outward from the center tubing component 21. Eachsocket 22A-22D is configured to secure a single sport ball 23A-23Dduring transport and/or storage. The sockets 22A-22D may be configuredto hold a single type of sport ball, for example, only volleyballs.Alternatively, the sockets 22A-22D may be configured to hold a pluralityof sport ball types, for example basketballs, soccer balls, and/orvolleyballs. In one embodiment, the sockets may be designed to be theshape of half of a sphere. Alternatively, the sockets may be designed tobe the shape of half of an ellipsoid (shown below in FIGS. 6 and 7).

As each socket is filled, the sockets are configured such that theexterior of the sockets may touch, thereby wasting no space within thecarrier 10. In addition, the combination of the center tubing component21 and the sockets 22A-22D ensures that the sport balls placed withinthe carrier 10 maintain a particular configuration and therefore use theminimal amount of space possible. Coupled with the stretchable materialpanels pulling the sport balls toward the center of the carrier 10, thesocket and center tubing component configuration ensures the mostefficient use of space by the carrier 10.

Although the center console 20 is shown in FIG. 2 as including 20sockets (four columns of five rows), the center console 20 is notlimited to only 20 sockets. In addition, the center console 20 mayinclude less than 20 sockets. For example, the center console 20 mayinclude four columns of three sockets thereby having the capability tohold up to twelve sport balls.

Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary illustration of the center console 20is shown. The sockets 22A-22E of the center console 20 include four wallportions. When a socket is empty, the wall portions of the socket are atrest. For example in FIG. 3, the sport ball 23E has been removed fromthe socket 22E. The socket 22E includes four wall portions that are atrest when not securing the sport ball 23E but expand as the sport ball23E is pressed into the socket 22E, securing the sport ball 23E withinthe carrier 10. The wall portions of the socket 22E secure the sportball 23E by applying tension to the sport ball 23E when the outer edgeof the wall portions reach the middle of the circumference of the sportball 23E. This tension secures the sport balls lodged into the socketsduring transport and/or storage. In addition, the mesh panels 11 and thematerial panels 12 provide a tight-fitting cover to ensure the sportballs do not become dislodged. Although the sockets 22A-22E areillustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 as having four wall portions, otherembodiments are possible. For example, the sockets may be comprised oftwo wall portions.

Referring to FIG. 4, a second magnified view of an exemplary portion ofthe center console 20 is shown. The sockets 22A-22D are seen to be atrest as none of the sockets 22A-22D are illustrated as securing a sportball. Referring to FIG. 5, a magnified view of a second exemplaryportion of the center console is shown. In contrast to the illustrationof FIG. 4, the sockets 22A-22E of FIG. 5 are seen to be securing thesport balls 23A-23D.

Referring to FIG. 6, a magnified view of an exemplary portion of asecond center console 60 is shown. The center console 60 is configuredto hold a plurality of sport balls generally shaped as ellipsoids. Forexample, the sockets 62A-62D may be configured to hold a plurality ofsport balls 63A-63D such as footballs and/or rugby balls. Referring toFIG. 7, a second magnified view of an exemplary portion of the centerconsole 60 of FIG. 6 is shown. The socket 62D is seen to be at rest. Inaddition, the embodiment of the center tubing component 61 includes acavity 64B. The cavity 64B provides an additional space saving elementwherein the sport ball 63B may partially extend inward toward the centertubing component 61.

In particular, only a small portion of a sport ball will sit flushagainst the center tubing component if no cavity is included with eachsocket. For example, as most sport balls include a rounded shape, only asmall portion of the sport ball sits against the center tubingcomponent, while the majority of the sport ball extends outward from thecenter tubing component. However, if a cavity is included in the centertubing component for each socket, a portion of the sport ball may restwithin the hollow portion of the center tubing component. In someembodiments, the cavities may be configured as circles. In otherembodiments, the cavities may be configured to take the shape of theparticular sport ball for which the carrier 10 is intended (e.g., anellipse for a football). When cavities take the particular shape of asport ball, the size of the carrier 10 may be decreased therebyobtaining an efficient use of space.

In addition, the size of a circular cavity may be configured dependingon the size of the sport ball to be placed in the socket. For example, amen's basketball has an official size of 29.5 inches in circumferencewhile a women's basketball has an official size of 28.5 inches incircumference. Therefore, if a carrier is designed specifically formen's basketballs the cavities included in the center tubing componentmay differ in size of cavities includes in the center tubing componentof a carrier designed for women's basketballs. Similarly, an officialsoccer ball has a circumference of 68 to 70 cm (or 26.8 to 27.6 inches),differing from both men's and women's basketballs. Therefore, thecavities included in the center tubing component of a carrier madespecifically for soccer balls may differ than those includes in acarrier design specifically for a men's basketball and women'sbasketball.

In the foregoing description, the invention is described with referenceto specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evidentthat various modifications and changes may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A structure for storing a plurality of objectscomprising: a top portion; a bottom portion; a plurality of elongatedmesh panels; a plurality of stretchable material panels eachlongitudinally attached to adjacent pairs of said mesh panels, saidplurality of mesh panels and material panels forming a generallyelongated structure in which said mesh panels alternate with saidstretchable material panels, wherein said plurality of mesh panels andsaid plurality of stretchable material panels connect to said topportion and said bottom portion; a closure component creating a closableopening, said closure component dividing said top portion and saidelongated structure into at least two sections; a rigid center tubularcomponent completely enclosed within said elongated structure when saidclosable opening is in a closed state, said rigid center tubularcomponent including a plurality of sockets, each of the plurality ofsockets configured to retain one of said plurality of objects.
 2. Thestructure defined by claim 1 wherein said plurality of objects is aplurality of generally spherically shaped objects.
 3. The structuredefined by claim 1 wherein said plurality of objects is a plurality ofobjects generally shaped as an ellipsoid.
 4. The structure defined byclaim 1 wherein said plurality of sockets includes a plurality of wallportions and sockets of said plurality of sockets are generally shapedas half of a sphere.
 5. The structure defined by claim 1 wherein saidplurality of sockets include a plurality of wall portions and sockets ofsaid plurality of sockets are generally shaped as half of an ellipsoid.6. The structure defined by claim 1 wherein said center tubularcomponent includes five rows of four sockets.
 7. The structure definedby claim 1 wherein said structure includes at least two attachmentcomponents.
 8. The structure defined by claim 7 wherein said attachmentcomponents are G-hooks.
 9. The structure defined by claim 1 wherein saidcenter tubular component includes a storage component.
 10. The structuredefined by claim 1 wherein said center tubular component is attached tosaid bottom portion.
 11. The structure defined by claim 1 wherein saidtop portion and said bottom portion comprise a flexible andsubstantially non-stretchable fabric.
 12. The structure defined by claim1 wherein said closable opening is selectively closable by operation ofa zipper.
 13. The structure defined by claim 1 wherein said closableopening extends from a first side of said bottom portion across saidstructure to a second side of said bottom portion.